A reporter who excelled in a sports journalism exam has won a dream prize of reporting on the Championship football play-off matches from the press box at Wembley.

Marcus Chippindale was one of three reporters to be awarded prizes from The Football League for their outstanding performance in sports writing exams accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

Said Marcus: “It was a complete shock to win the award. Considering the quality of young sports journalists in the country I feel very proud to have my work acknowledged by the NCTJ and The Football League.

“Reporting from Wembley is every sports journo’s dream so I can’t wait to sit in the press box in May.”

Marcus studied at News Associates, Manchester and is now working as a features writer for Police Professional – a weekly magazine covering policing and home affairs.

The awards were presented at the 2012 Student Council forum in MediaCity on 10 February by Radio Five live presenter Peter Allen.

Second prize went to Will Wainewright, who completed his NCTJ training at News Associates, London and is currently working as a financial journalist at HFMWeek, a weekly hedge fund trade magazine based in London.

He will report on League One, while third prize winner Chris Baldwin will report on League Two.

Chris also studied at News Associates, London and is currently working for Ticketmaster as part of their Olympics project team.

All of the match reports will be posted on The Football League’s website.

Said Chris: “It’s feels great to win an award and I still can’t quite believe it. I’ve always wanted to work as a sports journalist and I am now more determined than ever to achieve this.”

The three journalists had work published in national newspapers before they completed their training.